The 2018 Champagne Starck Brut Nature exhibits notes of lemon and citrus oils, but the stone fruit has a silkiness, not the tannic side you sometimes see. It also has hints of savory toast, but it remains very elegant. This 2018 is the first vintage that included a small amount of Pinot Blanc to add more depth to the mid-palate. Medium to full-bodied, it has a fleshy texture without being too bitter. With the extended time on lees, the Pinot Blanc is almost more perceptible in the blend – and if it isn’t now, it will be – because it complements the style with that ideal, almost aesthetic almond or fresh hazelnut character. It brings an oily, not overly fleshy quality, and none of the oxidative side you sometimes get from Pinot Blanc. Disgorged in October 2024, the second batch is scheduled for disgorgement this coming October for release next year

The NV Champagne Collection 246 is fantastic and has refreshing nerve, with more citrus, pure lemon curd, white grapefruit, and white peach. Medium-bodied, it floats through the palate, with a refined mousse and fantastic fresh acidity.

The 2018 Champagne Vintage Brut Rosé is based largely on Pinot Noir from Cumières, with additional Pinot Noir from Mareuil sur Aÿ that brings more intensity and drive to balance the upfront fruit of Cumières. Composed of 60 percent Pinot Noir, it offers a chalky, lightly saline profile with notes of apricot, fresh strawberry, and blood orange. Medium-bodied, it has more structure than expected in the vintage and finishes clean and mineral. Drink 2025-2045.

Creamy, smoky rose petals on the nose, slowly verge into the warm scent of fresh Genoese sponge. A moment later, the nose is all pink-veined, white peach, scented, and vivid. Aromas shimmer with quiet yet persistent intensity. It therefore comes as a surprise to find the palate so utterly weightless, so delicate and yet so profound. Salinity and chalk, citrus and Genoese sponge notions move like silk chiffon. When tasted again with salty food, a whole new dimension of fruitiness opens up, intrinsic, profound, always chalky, in a dazzling display of ageless beauty. 

This is rich and layered, offering baked peach and cherry fruit alongside singed orange peel and salted Marcona almond flavors, with an underpinning of minerally chalk and brine notes. Yet the concentrated profile is set in an elegant frame of sleek acidity and a fine, satinlike mousse, waltzing across the palate and through the lasting finish. Drink now through 2039.